This invention relates generally to a video sharing network, and more particularly to a video sharing network which permits members of a network to register a particular portable media device with a website in order to view video created from different operating systems.
The popularity of small video cameras for use with personal computers has been increasing. Such video cameras are sometimes referred to as netcams or webcams. These types of devices connect to the Universal Serial Bus (USB) or other port of a computer, and enable users to record or stream video and audio into the computer. Popular applications of such cameras include small-scale video communications, live transfer of video onto a web site, as well as other applications.
Unfortunately, transferring video through a website, such as a dating website is useless unless all the potential parties have compatible equipment. Net cams or web cams may be operated through a web cam provided with an Apple® computer or through Windows® or though any other type of operating system. Current websites fail to provide a means for all video into a single format instantly with the user having to purchase compatible equipment. In other instances, a user may wish to record live video and audio for sending to another user over email. Typically this means that the user must use a stand-alone computer program, usually supplied with the video camera, to record the video and audio, and save it as a separate file on the computer's hard disk drive. The user then must manually attach the file to an outgoing email, and hope that the recipient of the email has a computer with the capability to playback the file.
In all these situations, there are additional problems. If a purchaser of an online dating service wishes to record and submit a video, the purchaser must make sure they attach the video to email. The purchaser may not be sophisticated enough to save the recorded video and audio as a file, and may also not be sophisticated enough to manually attach the file to an outgoing email. In the case of complex email programs, such as versions of Microsoft Outlook available from Microsoft Corp. of Redmond, Wash., the user may not understand how the program works. Even if the user can perform all this functionality, the end user still may not have a program that can playback the file, and may not know how to obtain one easily. Furthermore, at best this entire process is laborious, which itself may cause users to send video and audio with their emails far less than they otherwise would.
The present invention is designed to overcome the problems of the prior art by providing a website that permits real time video operation user to user over the Internet despite different operating systems or programs.